OT: Talking Unsolved Legends / Events Wednesday - Jimmy Hoffa
Happy Hump Day everyone. Sorry this is up so late, my significant other ended up in the ER this morning and my kid is crazy and the office is even crazier. Anyways, enough with the excuses, lets talk Jimmy Hoffa. I have put the wikipedia link at the bottom for those who want it.
So here is a quick run down. He was last seen at Red Fox (restaurant) in Bloomfield, July of 1975. His car was still there and they started looking for him the next day. He was supposed to meet a couple of mafia guys there. He was a Union leader who was involved in organized crime. Some say he was put in concrete (perhaps under a stadium), some say he was smashed with cars, some say he was placed in a shallow grave in Northern Oakland County. All of the reports led to nothing even recently. I personally think he was put in cement boots and thrown in some deep water.
What do you all think? This being a somewhat local case, I would love to hear stories you have heard regarding this over the years, especially those living at the time or from your families who were in the area, as well as your opinion on his fate.
Almost to the season guys, hang in there and take it easy. Have a good one!
Eli
August 7th, 2019 at 12:26 PM ^
My Uncle always said he was killed and buried in one of the concrete highway dividers along I-96. So, there's that. My Uncle also works for the DNR, so he's definitely an expert when it comes to unsolved mysteries.
August 7th, 2019 at 12:36 PM ^
Could be true. It wouldn't have been hard to pay off some construction workers. Especially before cameras everywhere.
I've got some Hoffa connections as my dad was a Steward in Local 299, Jimmy Sr.'s local. Lots of stories over the dinner table and holidays, especially regarding the Teamster's Rec Center in Saline Michigan. My dad knew Sr. well, and for years carried Jimmy Jr.'s business card (now the President of the International, but then just a lawyer who happened to be M Law alum!!). If my dad needed help, he could call on either.
So the two leading theories regarding Hoffa was that he was poured into the pavement in the Zilwaukee Bridge or the NJ Meadowlands Sports Complex, both built with reputed mob ties and the timing fits with construction projects. My father, now gone some 20 years, simply insisted "doesn't matter where they are, the remains will never be found." But he always hinted he knew the right answer, took it to the grave.
Jimmy Sr. had a bad rap regarding his ties to organized crime, some deserved certainly. But to my father, who drove a truck around the midwest hauling steel coils until the industry finally collapsed during de-regulation, Jimmy Sr. was a hero. Why?
My dad would say "of course he's corrupt, but the auto companies and steel mills aren't too? The difference is that Jimmy Sr. did it to benefit the working man and the big companies do it for the banks. Frankly, we needed a Jimmy Sr., with the mob, to stand up to those crooks, those union breaking thugs. Anytime a working man needed to speak to Jimmy Sr., the door was open and he'd help, but the auto companies? Right."
I've got an autographed picture of Jimmy Sr. hanging in my law office. (I'm M Law '91).
That’s good stuff. My grandfather was a tough man, and a Teamster for years. To the day he died, saying the name Jimmy Hoffa in my grandparents house would immediately be followed by “he was for the boys!”.
August 7th, 2019 at 12:32 PM ^
STFU
August 7th, 2019 at 12:36 PM ^
come again
August 7th, 2019 at 12:51 PM ^
TWSS
Who would neg this comment??
RIGHT???
Apparently the same person who negged yours, but I got your back....
If not for the anonymous message board, where else would we all go to unleash our inner 13 year old?
August 7th, 2019 at 12:32 PM ^
I mean at this point we have to take Frank Sheeran at his word on this, no?
My only story is that I went to HS with Anthony Giacalone granddaughter (she was hot, but needless to say not a lot of people dared to try to date her)
August 7th, 2019 at 12:35 PM ^
I wouldn't take him at his word.
I feel like Italian mobsters do have some hot daughters.
August 7th, 2019 at 12:42 PM ^
ordinarily agreed, but given the lack of anything else, seems reasonable if it was an ordered hit to have a friend betray him.
Who knows though. would be crazy if his body did turn up at some point in the future
August 7th, 2019 at 12:49 PM ^
FBI said the blood in the house didn't match Hoffas though so not sure.
I don't think it will ever be found.
August 7th, 2019 at 12:56 PM ^
wasn't the DNA analysis only done in the last decade or so? Plenty of time for something to happen (not sure how cleaning products and time impact DNA in blood, but I am sure we have a Doctor on here who will school me shortly lol).
not sure. HAHA yeah.
August 7th, 2019 at 12:45 PM ^
Not sure we take him at his word, but I do feel like his account is the most believable. The author of I heard you Paint Houses seemed to research everything pretty well. Just because they didn't find blood in the floor boards of that house in Detroit doesn't mean it didn't happen there.
I also went to school with a couple Giacalone's that were supposedly not involved with the rest of the family. I do know I could place sports bets in HS through one of them though. I'm sure it was a coincidence.
Take this FWIW. My brother lived in the Somerset Apartments in Troy at the time. His next door neighboor was Charles "Chuckie" O'brien and the night Hoffa disapeared my brother claims he heard a LOT of yelling and what sounded like a fight going on next door through the wall.
He never reported a thing to anybody. He knew better.
I believe the Frank Sheeran account as spelled out in "I Heard You Paint Houses". There is no body since they took him directly to a mob-controlled funeral parlor/cemetery and incinerated it.
Later this year, the film "The Irishman" will come out and is basically the book, I am told. Should be entertaining. The book was one of the best reads I have spent time with.
Frank was connected to the Philly mob and also Russell Bufalino, the mob big shot from Buffalo. It is said that he also took care of Crazy Joey Gallo in New York. Additionally, he once was tasked with driving a couple of rifles from the Philly area down to a waiting plane in the Baltimore area. He was unaware of their purpose, but those rifles were flown to the Dallas area in November of 1963.
yeah I know - all fascinating.
slate calls bs on a lot of this: https://slate.com/culture/2019/08/the-irishman-scorsese-netflix-movie-true-story-lies.html but I mean absent anything else, its what we've got!
Saw the trailer, DeNiro, Pacino and Pesci, WOW! Can't believe it will be available only via Netflix and not in theater.
"...those rifles were flown to the Dallas area in November of 1963."
So he was indirectly employed by the CIA.
(Wait - wrong conspiracy!)
That may have been accurate.
August 7th, 2019 at 12:47 PM ^
Just had lunch with Jimmy at Malibu Seafood.
Inconceivable! He's flipping burgers at the Burger King in KZoo with Elvis.
August 7th, 2019 at 12:49 PM ^
Red Fox...right around the corner from where I grew up at Maple and Telegraph. Funny how they depicted the place in the Hoffa movie, nothing like the real thing.
August 7th, 2019 at 12:59 PM ^
You grew up at Maple and Telegraph? So did I. We lived in the neighborhood right behind the Machus Red Fox. We were living there when the abduction happened. I always thought it was the perfect restaurant for the mob to meet in. The dining room was dark on the inside with no windows. You could hide in a corner and no one would see you.
I figured I'd run across someone if I posted that! Yeah, I was in Foxcroft on Maple closer to the fire department across the street from the entrance to our neighborhood. I was 7 when that abduction happened and remember the news stories on TV to this day. I recall the atmosphere of the RF, totally spot on with your description.
Otherwise though, was a GREAT place to grow up!!! :-)
Yeah, I know exactly where that is. Great neighborhood too (see my post below). I used to walk through Foxcroft on the way back from the junior high sometimes.
Hey, True Blue Grit.....I lived on Cathedral for some of my elementary school years (Booth). But we had moved twice after that, so I didn't live in that neighborhood during the Hoffa disappearance. Were you in Birmingham Farms? Was that during your high school years, by chance?
GO BLUE!
jiM
Cool. Yup, Birmingham Farms. We were at White Pine and Cedarbrook from 1963 to 1980. So, I went to Booth, BHJH, and Andover. Yes, I was in 10th grade at the time. But that was a great neighborhood to grow up in for sure. The Franklin Cider Mill was a stone's throw away too.
Although I'd have been ahead of you in the class of '76 at Andover, we probably knew a lot of the same families in Birm. Farms. Lived there from 1967-1970, and were best friends with the Bills family on Cathedral. I've kept in touch with a lot of their kids, and a walk-on named Jon Bills from the RichRod years (who is now the recruiting coordinator at U-Mass) is a son of the oldest Bills brother. Lots of good times in that neighborhood.....loved the Cider Mill, and caught lots of frogs in the swamp that was there before they built the Temple on Telegraph. Played ball in Franklin Little League with the sons of Tigers Hank Aguirre and Al Kaline, and with the son of former Lion & Wolverine Roger Zatkoff, as well as against former UM hockey player, Dean Turner -- great memories.
Jim.... the name Bills doesn't ring a bell right away, but 40 something years is a long time! We have a lot in common. I also played in the Franklin Little League. Those baseball names are well known to me. I'd love to continue this dialogue off the blog if you'd like. My email is [email protected].
True Blue, with that arm you should have been a closer for The Bird.
August 8th, 2019 at 10:53 PM ^
Wow - we lived there too at about the same time - 1973 to 1980 at White Pine and Cedarbrook. Summer of 1975, I would have been going into fifth grade. That was a great neighborhood - being able to walk to Booth, taking that path off Cathedral. I also did Franklin baseball but just for two years. I also remember a bowling alley at Maple and Telegraph (Strike and Spare?).
I went to Wing Lake, BHJH, and Andover; had good friends that lived on Castle Drive; used to walk up to the mall where the Red Fox was; had milk shakes at Ho Jo’s; loved the cider mill donuts; hung out at Wing Lake as a kid; and remember the big Spears drug bust in Birmingham Farms.
BoFan: you must be at least my age or older if you remember the old HoJo's at Telegraph and Maple. Later on, it morphed into Hogans where my friends and I ate many a meal after Andover games. See my reply to Jim4Blue. Feel free to contact me.
August 7th, 2019 at 12:50 PM ^
Perhaps the Oakland County child killer got him? I remember the hysteria around that which looks like nothing compared to all the miurers and disappearance these days.
He's actually in Brazil, playing bass in a band with Elvis, JFK and Keith Jackson.
If I wanted to see nonagenarians and centarians playing in a band, I'd go see the Rolling Stones.
JFK is definitely dead.
Keith Jackson is living it up in Little Rock, AR last I heard. Loved hitting him on slant routes in Tecmo Super Bowl, when I wasn't running the qb keeper with RC of course.
He might be with Elvis though.
Whoa, Nelly!
Pure coincidence but Jimmy Hoffa was born in Brazil. Brazil, Indiana that is.
And don't forget 2pac
I still think that the best story is that Jimmy Hoffa is buried under the NY Giants stadium. Until they find the truth - I choose to believe this.
That story will never be checked because the Giants can't find the endzone.
As a Giants fan, I approve of this post!
best story indeed.
I liked this one too until they razed it when MetLife was built.
Next week's theme: what happened to Eli's SO that caused her to end up in the ER?